Criminalising extreme pornography: A lost opportunity

Criminal Law Review

Volumn , Issue 4, 2009, Pages 245-260

  McGlynn, Clare ^a   Rackley, Erika ^a  

^a DURHAM UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Defences; Penalties; Pornography; Possession of extreme pornographic images

Indexed keywords

EID: 64749091509     PISSN: 0011135X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (93)

1. The CJIA increases this to five years: OPA 1959 s.2(l), as amended by CJIA s.71 (not yet in force).
2. OPA s.l.
3. OPA s.4.
4. The number of prosecutions has fallen from 131 in 1999 to 35 in 2005 (Ministry of Justice, Criminal Justice and Immigration BUI Regulatory Impact Assessment (2007), p.90).
5. Hicklin (1867-68) L.R. 3 Q.B. 360.
6. Crown Prosecution Service, Obscene Publications, http:llwww.cps.gov. ukllegallL-to-ol obscene-publicationsHndex.html [Accessed January 30, 2009].
7. Susan Edwards, "On the Contemporary Application of the Obscene Publications Act 1959" [1998] Crim. L.R. 843.
8. Anderson [1972] 1 Q.B. 304 CA (Crim Div).
9. To the extent that the harm is conceived as harm to children viewing the material, then the paternalism is likely to be justified. But the principal criticism here of paternalism is its focus on the users of pornography rather than on others who might be harmed.
10. Home Office, Consultation: On the Possession of Extreme Pornographic Material (2005), p.l.
11. Indeed our article "Striking a Balance: Arguments for the Criminal Regulation of Extreme Pornography" [2007] Crim. L.R. 677 broadly supported the Government's proposals.
12. See further McGlynn and Rackley, "Striking a Balance" [2007] Crim. L.R. 677 and McGlynn and Rackley, "The Politics of Pom" (2007) 157 N.L.J. 1142.
13. CJIA s.63(l).
14. CJIA s.63(8).
15. CJIA s.63(7).
16. Explanatory Notes to Criminal Justice and Immigration Act, para.459, http://www.uk-legislation.hmso.gov.uklactslacts2008lenlukpgaenJ20080004-enA [Accessed January 30, 2009].
17. CJIAs.63(3).
18. CJIA s.63(4), (5).
19. Lord Hunt, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Ministry of Justice, Hansard, HL Vol.699, col.894 (March 3, 2008).
20. CJIAs.63(6)(b).
21. CJIAs.63(7).
22. Home Office, Consultation: On the Possession of Extreme Pornographic Material (2005), paras 39-42.
23. See, e.g. Parliament's Joint Report on Human Rights, Fifth Report of Session 2007-08, Legislative Scrutiny: Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill. HL Paper No.37, HC Paper No.269 (Session 2007/08), paras 1.45-1.51.
24. Explanatory Notes to CJIA, para.457.
25. Explanatory Notes to CJIA, para.457.
26. Ministry of Justice Circular No.2009/01.
27. See further McGlynn and Rackley, "Striking a Balance" [2007] Crim. L.R. 677 fii.67 and also Jennifer Gossett and Sarah Bryne, "Click Here: A Content Analysis of Rape Websites" (2002) 16(5) Gender & Society 689.
28. A number of times in debate, it was stated that the type of material under discussion is very difficult to access. For example, Baroness Howarth stated that "one cannot get to it by accident; a determined effort has to be made" {Hansard, HL Vol.699, col.905 (March 3, 2008)). In fact, what is disturbing is how easy it is to access much of the material being called extreme. It is entirely straightforward to access, for free, without giving any personal details, large amounts of material covering bestiality, necrophilia and other forms of violent pornography. Sometimes there are front web pages, warning of the nature of the content, but there is no mechanism to prevent further access.
29. Home Office, Consultation: On the Possession of Extreme Pornographic Material (2005), para. 5.
30. Such focus on body parts excluding any possibility of bringing psychological harm within "serious injury".
31. Catherine Itzin, Ann Taket and Liz Kelly, The Evidence of Harm to Adults Relating to Exposure to Extreme Pornographic Material: a Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) (Ministry of Justice Research Series 10/07, 2007), http:llwww.jmtke.gov.uk/docsl280907.pdf [Accessed January 30, 2009].
32. It is worth noting here that the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill (due to be introduced into the Scottish Parliament in Spring 2009) will include measures which will criminalise the possession of extreme pornographic material which realistically depict "Rape and other non-consensual penetrative sexual activity, whether violent or otherwise" (Scottish Government, Revitalising Justice-Proposals To Modernise And Improve The Criminal Justice System (September 2008), p.18, http:llwwvi.scotland.gov. uklPublicationsl2008l09l24132838IO [Accessed January 30, 2009].
33. Home Office, Consultation on the Possession of Extreme Pornographic Material-Summary of Responses and Next Steps (2006), para.35.
34. This was the focus of much criticism after the 2005 consultation, but the Government remained with its original proposal in its 2006 document without specifying why (Pt II, para. 12).
35. SOA s.69
36. It has been a continuing source of irony, and dismay, to us that while there has been a general consensus about including the bestiality provisions within the Act, this has not extended to the images of sexual violence against women and that people appear to find images of bestiality more abhorrent than forced sex or extreme violence against women.
37. CJIAs.63(6)(b).
38. Lord Hunt, Hansard, HL Vol.699, col.894 (March 3, 2008).
39. Lord Hunt, Hansard, HL Vol.699, col.894 (March 3, 2008).
40. Lord Hunt, Hansard, HL Vol.699, col.894 (March 3, 2008). See also Home Office, Consultation: On the Possession of Extreme Pornographic Material (2005), para.20.
41. Martha Nussbaum, Hiding from Humanity-Disgust, Shame and the Law (2004).
42. Liberty, Liberty's Committee Stage Briefing on the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill in the House of Commons (2007), p.16.
43. Porter [2006] EWCA Crim 560; [2006] 2 Cr. App. R. 25.
44. Yaman Akdeniz, "Possession and Dispossession: a critical assessment of defences in possession of indecent photographs of children cases" [2007] Crim. L.R. 274, 283.
45. David Ormerod, "Indecent Photograph of a Child" [2006] Crim. L.R. 748, 751.
46. Atkins v DPP [2000] 2 Cr. App. R. 248 DC.
47. Ormerod, "Indecent Photograph of a Child" [2006] Crim. L.R. 748, 750.
48. The Spanner Trust in its information leaflet about the new measures suggests that "just viewing an image or video on a web site does not constitute 'possession'. So you can browse the Internet quite legally" (Spanner Trust, Is Your Pom Collection Still Legal, http://wuw.spannertrust. org/documents/possessionu>f-extreme-pomographyshare.pdf [Accessed January 30, 2009]). The leaflet goes on to suggest that what remains in the individual's cache "does not constitute possession". As we have seen, this is not necessarily the case. Not least because reading the leaflet (and its guidelines on how to delete a computer's hard drive) will, presumably, give the reader the requisite knowledge for the offence.
49. Smith andjayson [2003] 1 Cr. App. R. 13; Bowden [2000] 1 Cr. App. R. 438 CA (Crim Div).
50. For the purposes of Protection of Children Act 1978 s.l(l)(a) {Smith andjayson [2002] EWCA Crim 683; [2003] 1 Cr. App. R. 13 at [33]).
51. The decision in Bowden means that, Akdeniz suggests, "prosecutors are more likely to opt for the more serious 'making charge' rather than the 'simple possession charge' [under s.160 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988] in cases where internet downloading is involved" (Akdeniz, "Possession and Dispossession" [2007] Crim. L.R. 274, 285-286).
52. The OPA does not extend this far.
53. CJIAs.64(3).
54. See, e.g. Liberty, Liberty's Committee Stage Briefing on the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill in the House of Commons (2007), p.18; Julian Petley, "Something Must be Done" (Index on Censorship, 2008), http://www.indexoncensorship.org/?p=435 [Accessed January 30, 2009].
55. Lord Hunt, Letter to Rt Hon the Lord Kingsland, Q.C., http://zvww.justice.gov.uk/docs/ crim-justice-corres-gov-amends.pdf [Accessed January 30, 2009].
56. Martha Nussbaum, Sex and Social Justice (1999), p.227 and again at p.233.
57. Nussbaum, Hiding from Humanity (2004), p. 143.
58. For Martha Nussbaum's particular discussion of Lawrence, James and Playboy, alongside Alan Hollinghurst's The Swimming-Pool Library, see Sex and Social Justice (1999), Ch.8, discussed in Clare McGlynn and Ian Ward, "Pornography, Pragmatism and Proscription" Journal of Law and Society, forthcoming.
59. Criminal Justice Act 1988 s. 160(2).
60. CJIA s.65(2).
61. Atkins [2000] 2 Cr. App. R. 248 DC discussed in Akdeniz, "Possession and Dispossession" [2007] Crim. L.R. 274, 278-279.
62. Discussed in relation to child abuse images: Atkins [2000] 2 Cr. App. R. 248 DC.
63. CJIA s.66.
64. CJIA s.66(3).
65. Brown [1993] 2 All E.R. 75 HL.
66. The number could run to "millions" according to backlash, "Extreme Pornography Provisions: ill-conceived and wrong" in Clare McGlynn, Erika Rackley and Nicole Westmarland (eds), Positions on the Politics of Porn (2007), pp.9-14, at p.9, http:llwww.dur.ac.uk/resources/ law/research/politicsofporn/PositionsonthePoliticsofPorn.pdf [Accessed January 30, 2009].
67. CJIAs.63(10).
68. Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill: Regulatory Impact Assessments, http://www.justice.gov.uk/docs/regulatory-impact-assess-l.pdf [Accessed January 30, 2009].
69. CJIA s.67. Offenders who are sentenced to two or more years' imprisonment will also be subject to notification requirements if they are 18 or over (SOA 2003 Pt 2). (As confirmed by the Ministry of Justice in a letter to backlash at http:llwww.backlash-uk.org.uk/ruddell.html [Accessed January 30, 2009]).
70. Oliver [2002] EWCA Crim 2766; [2003] 1 Cr. App. R. 463.
71. Consultation: On the Possession of Extreme Pornographic Material (2005), para.31.
72. Consultation: On the Possession of Extreme Pornographic Material (2005), para.27.
73. Consultation: On the Possession of Extreme Pornographic Material (2005), para.5.
74. Consultation: On the Possession of Extreme Pornographic Material (2005), para.5.
75. Consultation: On the Possession of Extreme Pornographic Material (2005), p.2 and para.34.
76. Hiding from Humanity-Disgust, Shame and the Law (2004), p. 139
77. David Dyzenhaus, "John Stuart Mill and the Harm of Pornography" (1992) 102 Ethics 534, 537.
78. US Attorney General's Commission on Pornography (the Meese Report) (July 1986), para.5.2.1, http://wwzv.pom-report.com/ [Accessed January 30, 2009].
79. Meese Report, para.5.2.1.
80. Cass Sunstein, "Pornography, sex discrimination and free speech" in Larry Gostin (ed.), Civil Liberties in Conflict (1988), pp. 152-169.
81. REA, above fn.31, p.iii.
82. REA, p.iii.
83. REA, p.iii.
84. Maria Eagle MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill Committee, col.31 (October 16, 2007), http:llwww. publications.parliament.uk/palcm200607/cmpublic/criminal/071016/aml71016s01. htm [Accessed January 30, 2009]; Lord Hunt, Hansard, HL Vol.699, col.907 (March 3, 2008).
85. Vanessa Munro, "Dev'l-in Disguise? Harm, Privacy and the Sexual Offences Act 2003" in Vanessa Munro and Carl Stychin (eds), Sexuality and the Law-feminist engagements (2007), pp.12-13.
86. For similar arguments, see Cass Sunstein, "Pornography and the First Amendment" (1986) Duke Law Journal 589.
87. See, e.g. Explanatory Notes to Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, para.803, http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmbills/130/en/ 2007130en.pdf [Accessed January 30, 2009].
88. The Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, Jack Straw, Hansard, HC Vol.464, col.60 (October 8, 2007).
89. Martin Salter MP, Hansard, HC Vol.464, col.93 (October 8, 2007). He continued: "If people want to do weird things to each other they still can, but I say 'Don't put it on the internet'" (col.113).
90. Charles Walker MP, Hansard, HC Vol.464, col.l 17 (October 8, 2007).
91. Lord Hunt, Hansard, HL Vol.699, col.908 (March 3, 2008).
92. Catharine MacKinnon, Women's Lives, Men's Laws (2005), p.369.
93. For a similar argument in respect of the SOA, see Vanessa Munro, "Dev'l-in Disguise?" (2007), above m.85.